Civil Society & Social InnovationLiving Together: Re-Thinking Social Unity for a Multi-Faith Society
Principal Investigator: Dr Derek Edyvane, University of Leeds
2011
The ‘civic health’ discourse in contemporary politics presupposes an analogy between the lives of communities and the lives of individuals that is often overlooked. This report examines two prominent philosophical conceptions of the life of an individual – the ‘episodic’ and the ‘narrative’ – and considers what they can tell us about the lives of communities. Read more
Localism and connected neighbourhood planning
Principal Investigator: Phil Jones (University of Birmingham)
2012
The Localism Act, 2011 gives communities the power to set up a Neighbourhood Forum and produce a Neighbourhood Plan for development in their area. Those Forums have relatively little resource to undertake these complex planning exercises. Read more
Connection, participation and empowerment in community-based research: the case of the transition movement.
Principal Investigator: Professor Rachel Pain (Durham University); Centre for Social Justice and Community Action
From 2012 to 2013
The project addressed issues identified by Transition Network through its experience of fielding interest from researchers. It documented experiences of Transition groups and researchers involved in research collaborations, created draft guidelines for Transition research, and initiated a broader project on supporting Transition groups to devise appropriate methods for monitoring and evaluation. Read more
Song Lines to Impact and Legacy: Creating Living Knowledge through Working with Social Haunting
Principal Investigator: Geoff Bright
From 2015 to 2017
This project developed from the previous AHRC Connected Communities ECR Development Project, ‘Working with Social Haunting’ and the AHRC 2016 Festival project ‘Opening the ‘Unclosed Space’: Multiplying Ghost Labs as Intergenerational Utopian Practice’. Read more
The role of creative interventions in fostering connectivity and resilience in older people
Principal Investigator: Anna Goulding, Newcastle University
2014
We are aiming to understand how creative interventions can help develop connectivity and resilience for older people. We will critically reflect on a range of projects including community gardening, filmmaking, the built environment, product design, digital media, theatre, music, cultural learning and visual arts interventions. Read more
Bridging the Gap between Academic Theory and Community Relevance: Fresh Insights from American Pragmatism
Principal Investigator: Professor Mihaela Kelemen, Keele University
From 2013 to 2014
‘Bridging the Gap’ focuses on what is considered ‘actionable’ knowledge by communities and what makes knowledge relevant, useful and/or practical at their end. The four AHRC projects involved in this collaborative grant application share the view that academic theories are not ends in themselves; rather that they must serve the needs of the communities studied. Read more
Our Data Ourselves
Principal Investigator: Tobias Blanke
From 2013 to 2015
Our AHRC funded research project: ‘Our Data Ourselves’, will increase our understanding of the nature and role of the data that young people produce when they use social platforms and applications on their smartphones. We have paired with members of Young Rewired State. Read more
Performing Abergavenny: creating a connected community beyond divisions of class, locality and history
Principal Investigator: Prof Valerie Walkerdine, Cardiff University
From 2013 to 2014
This project built upon Walkerdine et al’s research in Abergavenny for the Connected Communities Programme, ‘Community as micro-sociality’ (2012-13) which discovered that Abergavenny as a community is geographically disconnected along north/south fault lines, historically related to class and dislocation, and Mackey et al’s project ‘Challenging concepts of ‘liquid’ place through performance practices in community contexts’ (2011-14). Read more
Community as micro-sociality and the new localism agenda
Principal Investigator: Professor Valerie Walkerdine
From 2012 to 2013
The Big Society and localism agendas bring to the fore issues of how communities might operate within a time of austerity. This project addresses current concerns by using a theoretical approach to community which understands it as relational activity, the act of communing, which is the small everyday activity which makes up what counts as community. Read more
In conversation with…:co-designing with more-than-human communities
Principal Investigator: Dr Michelle Bastian; University of Edinburgh
From 2013 to 2014
The aim of this project is to explore how an expanded account of community – one which recognises the active participation of non-humans – might contribute to our understandings of how research can be co-designed and co-produced. Read more
